Food scientist Bill Wendorff was among several Wisconsin food safety specialists who received Commander’s coins, medals awarded for providing exceptional service, from the U.S. Army Reserve, for efforts in training an Army reserve unit headed to the Middle East with dairy plant inspection as part of its mission.

He was among a group that trained the 949th Medical Detachment (Veterinary Services), an Army Reserve unit from Ames, Iowa, with soldiers from eight states.

Heading up the unit is Major Michael Riley, a Wisconsin native and graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. Major Riley explains that a Veterinary Services detachment’s mission is to provide medical care to military working dogs and provide food safety inspection services to all branches of the military. The 949th was mobilized in August in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and spent three months training at Fort McCoy before shipping out to Kuwait, Qatar and Djibouti.

Also receiving commander’s coins were employees of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, including Howard Bixby, Baraboo; Glenn Goldschmidt, Clintonville; Lee Larsen, Green Bay; and Dale Osuldsen, Marshfield, as well as Al Vervoort of the cleaning supplier Ecolab, and Dave Metzig of Willow Creek Cheese, Berlin.